CNet reports on a new eSATA Hub from LaCie which allows you to connect external eSATA drives to your Thunderbolt equipped Mac.
The hub comes with two Thunderbolt ports and two eSATA ports. Users can connect up to two eSATA drives to the hub for use on their Thunderbolt equipped Macs. The additional Thunderbolt ports can also be used to daisy chain additional Thunderbolt peripherals off the device.
eSATA is a high performance drive connector used to connect external hard drives to your computer. eSATA has never been a standard option on Macs, but is a faster alternative to USB 2.0 and Firewire and is commonly found on high performance external drives and storage arrays. As noted by CNet, eSATA devices are also presently cheaper than their Thunderbolt counterparts. While Thunderbolt has a higher maximum speed than eSATA, if you are just connecting a single external drive (and not a drive array), it's not likely to exceed the upper limit of eSATA.
So, for those who are have existing eSATA drives or are waiting for Thunderbolt drives to drop in price, this could be a good interim solution. Unfortunately, LaCie hasn't released a price yet, but this eSATA hub is expected to be available during the first quarter of 2012.
So many issues with LaCie devices and the customer support or lack of it and of course their very inflated prices.
I will wait and see what Belkin come up with as although their prototype looked strange, they are usually of reasonable quality and with much better customer service that Lacie.
My esata hdd drives have been sitting unused since launch day of this thunderbolt mbp... Here's to hoping that finally changes soon..
I can get Chinese eSATA and USB 3.0 drive enclosures on sale for FREE after rebate at Frys!
Bring on the cheap Thunderbolt drive enclosures !
So many issues with LaCie devices and the customer support or lack of it and of course their very inflated prices.
I have a 1 TB external made by LaCie and I fear it's nearing death's door even though it's less than a year old. The Thailand flooding ruined any chances of me getting a more reliable drive so now I'm stuck with a drive that will most likely croak in a few months time.